审美经验是“幻相”吗?——对20世纪英美分析美学一段公案的再检讨

Aesthetic Experience as Phantom?——A Re-examination of an Exchange in 20th Century Analytic Aesthetics

审美经验曾是西方现代美学中最核心的概念。但随着英美分析美学在20世纪后半期的兴起,情况发生了根本的变化。众多分析美学家将审美经验描述为一个有名无实的"幻相",试图从根本上解构这一概念。这种"解构性的"分析美学,尤以乔治.迪基为代表。但门罗.比厄斯利所代表的分析美学谱系,却致力于捍卫审美经验的概念。从比厄斯利和迪基之间长达20年的交锋来看,迪基实际上未能解构审美经验,反而暴露了自身视野之狭隘,以及自身方法论之局限。

Aesthetic experience had been a core concept in western aesthetics ever since Immanuel Kant.However,with the rise of analytic aesthetics in the second half of 20th century,it was fiercely attacked.George Dickie,among many others,described aesthetic experience as ＂phantom＂ in trying to dismiss it.Nevertheless,another branch of analytic aesthetics,as represented by Monroe C.Beardsley,argued for the concept of aesthetic experience.A careful examination of this exchange shows that Dickie failed to dismiss aesthetic experience.Rather,his argument simply revealed the narrowness of his vision,as well as the limits of his methodology.